These words describe things that cost a lot, especially with reference to money. Expensive refers to things that cost a lot of money but that give pleasure and satisfaction because of their good looks or high quality: to live in an expensive flat; to frequent expensive restaurants. Expensive also hints at a tendency to extravagance: to have expensive tastes in clothes or wines. Something that is expensive may cost more than the purchaser thinks it is worth to him, but it also may be more than he is able to pay ?or thinks it practical to pay.

• That is a beautiful coat, but it is too expensive for me; We really don’t need such a big, expensive car.

High-priced is the most general term and the least specific. That which is high-priced simply costs a lot of money, either in an absolute sense or in a relative one. The word carries little suggestion of real value, quality, or desirability.

Something that is costly is very expensive , but for the reason that is rare, elegant or of superior workmanship: a costly diamond necklace; costly Persian rugs. In another sense, expensive and costly may both have reference to something that demands unusual effort or time, or that taxes one’s resources beyond a reasonable limit.

• A long illness is an expensive misfortune for the average family; This is a costly war in terms of the number of men killed and wounded.

Dear is the direct opposite of cheap. Most people aspire to own expensive or costly things, but not those that are dear or high-priced. Dear is applied chiefly to ordinary commodities which have risen in price because they are temporarily in short supply.

• In the middle of the summer, fresh oranges are dear , but in the winter months they are cheap; During World War II nylon stockings were very dear and hard to come by.

Anything is overpriced when it is offered for sale at a price much higher than its actual value warrants: shops selling overpriced antiques in a fashionable suburb. Buyers will not be attracted to goods that are overpriced when they discover that they can obtain similar things elsewhere for less money or do without. Products that are overpriced are sometimes said to "price themselves off the market."